I'm attempting to self teach Greek and decided to use this book but after going through the chapter on the alphabet etc I now I have no clue where to start. How should I go about it (obviously starting with the first chapter and so on haha). At the moment I'm writing down the vocab and will then read the passage but it just seems impossible. I've learnt languages before and am not struggling nearly as much with Latin, so it must be the fact that it's a new alphabet... I like to be able to break things down to work out what they mean but right now I'm seeing nothing.

Athenaze does throw alot at you at first glance. You seem to be going about it the right way. Don't worry too much about the grammar of the passage too much; they teach that right after. Just keep the going through the alphabet and keep the vocab in mind and you should be fine.

I also suggest using flash cards for the alphabet and vocab; they worked wonders for me!

It probably wouldn't hurt to read the grammar first. Honestly Athenaze is like the 4th book I've tried so I knew the grammar for the first few passages. But I think trying to tackle the passages first kinda cements the grammar in your brain. It's more of a direct approach to the language, like how you learn your first language in school; they don't talk about grammar much (at least they didn't in my school). They just throw examples at you, say "this is how it's supposed to be" and let you fill in your own grammar.

have you considered doing an online group study? We're studying Athenaze right now. We've just finished chapter 3 of the first book in group study. Many people online do group studies for free rather than paying for courses from a university or whatever. You're welcome to write me if you want more information about our study group.

steffi.alexa wrote:Thanks. It is very daunting at the moment but I want to get this. I'll give flashcards a go, thanks!

Would it be such a bad thing to read the grammar first or would that be going against how the book tries to teach the language?

(1) Vocab(2) Story(3) Grammar(4) Exercises

In my opinion, do it in that order. Don't learn grammar before feeling the story. The grammar will explain what you're already learning through reading. Don't do it backwards. I think the methodology of Athenaze is really good. Go with it. It will feel irregular at first, but in the end, I think it will make the language really stick.

jaihare wrote:have you considered doing an online group study? We're studying Athenaze right now. We've just finished chapter 3 of the first book in group study. Many people online do group studies for free rather than paying for courses from a university or whatever. You're welcome to write me if you want more information about our study group.

Regards,Jason

jaihare[at]gmail[dot]com

I have but have yet to find one starting. Also, should I get the grades, I'll be paying to take Greek in October anyway (or rather, I will when I start paying back my student finance loan!). I just want to get the basics down first.

jaihare wrote:

steffi.alexa wrote:Thanks. It is very daunting at the moment but I want to get this. I'll give flashcards a go, thanks!

Would it be such a bad thing to read the grammar first or would that be going against how the book tries to teach the language?

(1) Vocab(2) Story(3) Grammar(4) Exercises

In my opinion, do it in that order. Don't learn grammar before feeling the story. The grammar will explain what you're already learning through reading. Don't do it backwards. I think the methodology of Athenaze is really good. Go with it. It will feel irregular at first, but in the end, I think it will make the language really stick.

Don't neglect the English-to-Greek exercises (IMHO).

Jason

Yeah, that's what I thought. I'm not finding it so bad any more so I will try it the way that the books sets it out.

I just told you that we're doing such a group. We just finished chapter 3 and are now starting chapter 4. Is that too advanced for you? If not, you're welcome to join our study already in progress.

Regards,Jason

jaihare[at]gmail[dot]com

Sorry for taking ages to reply - my laptop had to be sent off to get repaired.

I'm still on the first chapter due to being insanely busy recently so I can't really join. The next month is fairly/very quiet so I should get loads done but then hopefully I'll be starting Greek modules at uni so...

steffi.alexa wrote:Sorry for taking ages to reply - my laptop had to be sent off to get repaired.

I'm still on the first chapter due to being insanely busy recently so I can't really join. The next month is fairly/very quiet so I should get loads done but then hopefully I'll be starting Greek modules at uni so...

jaihare wrote:In the meantime, if you want to use our collations for comparison as you work through Athenaze, I'm posting our work on my website at http://www.jhronline.com/greek/ATH2010/course.html. Feel free to stop by and download the PDFs for comparison.

Good luck in university, and don't think that you can't be a textkitter from there, too!!

Jason

Ooh thanks, I'll take a look at that in more detail tomorrow (it's been a long day!) but it looks great.

Well the 'so...' as because I don't know if I'll continue to self study or if I'll take it at uni or... I'm trying to work it out at the moment. Credits are annoying.